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I've been doing machine learning since the mid 2000s. About half of my time is spent keeping data pipelines running to get data into shape for training and usin
by burnedout_dc4e3 2y ago
I've been doing machine learning since the mid 2000s. About half of my time is spent keeping data pipelines running to get data into shape for training and using in models.
The other half is spent doing tech support for the bunch of recently hired "AI scientists" who can barely code, and who spend their days copy/pasting stuff into various chatbot services. Stuff like telling them how to install python packages and use git. They have no plan for how their work is going to fit into any sort of project we're doing, but assert that transformer models will solve all our data handling problems.
I'm considering quitting with nothing new lined up until this hype cycle blows over.
- naveen99 2y agoYou’re living the dream. Why quit ?
- bowsamic 2y agoIs that really your idea of a dream?
- naveen99 2y agoMy dreams are usually more disturbing, or fun… But yes. My work is kind of similar… I do some data curation / coding, and help 2 engineers who report to me. I enjoy it.
- burnedout_dc4e3 2y agoI like to feel useful, and like I'm actually contributing to things. I probably didn't express it well in my first post, but the attitude is very much that my current role is obsolete and a relic that's just sticking around until the AI can do everything. It means I'm marginalized in terms of planning. The company has long term goals that involve making good use of data. Right now, the plan is that "AI" will get us there, with no plan B is it doesn't work. When it inevitably fails to live up to the hype, we're going to have a bunch of clobbered together systems that are expensive to run, rather than something that we can keep iterating on. It means I'm marginalized in terms of getting resources for projects. There's a lot of good my team could be doing if we had the extra budget for more engineers and computing. Instead that budget is being sent off to AI services, and expensive engineer time is being spent on tech support for people that slapped "LLM" all over their resume.
- naveen99 2y agoTry to have some fun.
- bentt 2y agoI wonder if this is how the OG VR guys felt in 2016.
- Havoc 2y agoWell Palmer Luckey sold oculus and now makes military gear so I guess he chose violence after his VR era
- m_ke 2y agoI just quit a day ago with nothing lined up for the same reason.
- whiplash451 2y agoThere are companies where applied scientists are required to code well. Just ask how they are hired before joining (that should be a positive feature).
- burnedout_dc4e3 2y agoYeah, we used to be like that. Then, when this hype cycle started ramping up, the company brought in a new exec who got rid of that. I brought it up with the CEO, but nothing changed, so that's another reason for me to leave.
- nitwit005 2y agoWhy help them? Tell your boss you're pointing them to the other ones you helped previously.